Safety-indicator for railway-tracks



WCP'. THOMSON. SAFETY INDICATOR FOR RAILWAY TRACKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I51 I921.

Patented Aug. 2, 19210 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

mlliamfimmson,

a a w z A a W. P. THOMSON.

SAFETY INDICATOR FOR RAILWAY TRACKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 15. I921.

1,386,290. Patented g- 2,- 1921.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

IViZliaml? Thomson,

/ atto'cwu;

W/r/vEssEs:

. Patented Aug. 2,.192 1.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- @Utouwg jwuea tto'a n ill dean/1?] iaomaon,

W. P. THOMSON.

SAFETY lNDlCATOR FOR RAILWAY TRACKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 15. I921.

iV/r/vsssss."

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

winnuix r. rnonson, or ronnsr HILLS, Lone 18mm), New Yonx, 'nssronon To run nan. Jomr oourmr, or NEW YORK, N. Y., A oonromrrron on NEW YORK.

su'ErY-mnrcuon. Eon. RAILWAY-TRACKS.

Specification of Iietters Patents Patented Au g. 2, 1921.

Application flied March 15, 1921. Serial 80,452,567.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I WILLIAM P. THOM- soN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Forest Hills, Long Island, in the county of Queens and State of New York,-.have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Indicators 'for Railway- Tracks, of which the following is a specification. 1

This invention relatesto the subject of track maintenance, and particularly refers to a novel auxiliary device employed in connection with the rail ends to provide safer and more economical track conditions, said device primarily operating to indicate serious track conditions arising from abnormal stresses and also functioning as an adjunct to protect the rails from damage.

The important object of the invention as a safety indicator for railway track to provide a means for respectively indicating safe and unsafe rail end separation will better .be understood by reference to certain track conditions to which the invention is especially addressed. Referring particularly to those conditions, it should be stated at the outset. that more damage seems to result from one rail running tight up against an adjacent rail than from one rail running away from an adjacent rail; in other words, tightly abutted rail ends are productive of greater damage than is at all likely to result from any condition arising from normal or even an excessive amount of free space between adjacent rail ends.

An excessive opening between rails is so obviously wrong that track men, even if accustomed to exercise only reasonable care, are usually impressed with the necessity for correcting such a condition at the first opportunity.

, On the other hand, when adjacent rails have no space between their ends, it is not customary in present practice to question what may be the extent of the force which one of the rails may be exerting upon the other rail; it may be negligible or itmay;

be great enough to maintain such stress In the track that the disturbance caused by a moving train, or the exceeding of the resistance to displacement of any.. certain degree of curved track, may be sulficient-to break a rail or throw the whole track out of its true allnement and thus instantly create -a perilous condition as suggested'by the extreme but" diagram of Fig. 6. This is an not uncommon occurrence.

There exist, however, intermediate of these conditions -of negligible and perilous stresses, certain well defined conditions which are productive of exceedingly troublesome disturbances of normal operative relations of the component parts of a section of track. These other conditions are relatively of such secondary importance that:

no detailed explanation isdeemed necessary forthose familiar with such matters. What may be termed the primary conditions, however, are productive of such damage to the rails themselves as to constitute an enor-' mous factor of expense in the matter of ab normally rapid deterioration of the rail and the most damaging of these conditions, at

least, should be noted, viz

hammered to a lower and'lower level while the surface of the leaving rail is being rolled to a higher and higher level, with such certainty that in' time the receiving rail assumes a contour which is noticeably broader and flatter than that of the leaving rail, and, v

if the action is permitted to perslst, the receiving rail becomes actually cupped. Such rail is ruined and the damaged ends are frequently sawed off to render the rest of the rail usable. g

Second-Track conditions may be such 1 that, with the trafiic in one direction, the 'railswill abut tightly against each other and .Will' have a space between them in ingtermittent fashion, due to expansion and {contraction under the influence of atmospheric igonditions. In most of such instancesythleabutting relationship predominates to such an extent that the running surface of a hard leaving rail becomes elevated (but not to the same extent as in the first illustration above). and, when contraction of the rails produces an opening, this ust as soon, however, as the expansion, or 1 other action, restores the abutting condition, the metal which had flowed into the interspa'oe is crowded back against the u per corner of the leaving rail with such that it usually becomes detached from the rail and carries with it a piece of the top surface of the leaving rail, thus producing orce the failure of-the device, which ma be termed a gage, havin a safe crushing limit, will constitute an in icator to warn against the existence of an abnormal force, and its nature may be determined and corrected.

Also as pointed out, one phase of the invention is to provide a reliable and safe means for limitin stresses to alleviate or prevent the chipping or battering of the ru inlng surfaces at the ends of adjacent ra s. n

Therefore,it will now be understood that a distinctive purpose of the invention may a result commonly known as chipp g f be to provide what may be termed a safet the rail end. Another variety of chipping .is caused under similar condltions when the rail is comparatively soft. -Then the rolling action of the wheels on-tightly abutting rails causes metal to flow from the running surface of the leavingrail over upon the to of the receiving ra1l to quite an extent, i the rail joint is tight,'but just as soon as any looseness of the rail joint occurs the overlapping; metal is torn away and usually carries wit it a larger chip from the surface of the leaving rail than under the circumstances described where the rail is harder. v

Third-Rail breakage is certainly more liable to occur if tightly abuttin'grail ends permit abnormal stress to occur 1n a ran, particularly in. a straight ra1l. Consldermg, for example, a straight ra1l wh ch 1s being subjected to abnormal stress as it lies in repose in the track, the lines of force then are all parallel to the longitudinal. arms of the rail, but the moment a wheel load causes deflection of the rail all of this abnormal force, except. that through the center of gravity of the rail, is converted into abnormal tension or compression stress, over and above the normal stresses due to the rail de-. flection; and it needs no further demonstration to prove to those familiar with such conditions how great may be the latent power for damage which may reside in an abnormally stressed rail, particularly where it is recalled that the factor of temperature alone may account for an accumulation of unit stress of 2240 pounds persquare inch for every increase of temperature of 12 de grees Fahrenheit.

It will, therefore, be seen that a broad and comprehensive aspect of the invention is in.

the purpose to provide a safety device for gage adapted to be located between the rail pressive force that i-ts'resistance is superior to normal compressive forces, within safe limits, and which is inferior to abnormal compressive forces. Thus, one of the primary purposes of the invention is to provide a gage of the character referred to which will be crushed to a negli 'ble thickness within a safe limit of time be ore any danger would arise due to springing or sun-kinking of the rails. Such characteristic action would preclude absolutely tight laying of rails except as the result of authoritative instruction to omit the use of the safety gage.

{kn incidental but practical and important ob ect of the invention is to provide the gage with means adapting it for use as a rail end spacing gage in accordance with standard practices for atmospheric or other conditions, that is, permitting the track men to use the device to obtain the prescribed spacing of the rail ends when the rails are laid. After: such use, the device is intended to be left between the rail ends to perform the2 special safety functions above pointed ou With these and other objects in view, -which will be apparent to thoseskilled in this art, the invention consists in the novel construction and relation of elements hereintrated and claimed.

Though susceptible-of embodiment in a wide range of structural forms, certain preferred and practical embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of adjacent rail ends showing the novel safety gage placed between the ends thereof in operative relation thereto.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view' through the joint shownin Fig. 1 exposing the safety gage and one rail end in elevation and showing by dotted lines splice bars which act to sustain the gage in place.

Fig. 3 is a top view of the joint shown in Fig. 1 showing the cross section of the gage waved.

Fig. 4 is a detail view' of a modification of the shank member of the gage.

eating po'ssi le unsafe track.

F1g. 6 is a diagramo'fa section of tracking a -yield point which is superior'to normal compressive forces and which 13 1nferior toa'bnormal compressive forces, so

"that at apredetermined limit of resistance,

abrupt of the style of gage preferred, to operate an the gage body will break down, gradually or 70 v y according tospecific characteristics .-indicator of an unsafe track condition.

show ng curves of different degree (s--t,- H). and their-associated tangents (r e,

t-.'u and v-w), indicating by dotted lines the throwing of the track out "of its truealinement, particularly at the curves, due to .0

disturbances caused by a moving train augmented by abnormal stresses in tightly abut-' ting rails.

Fig. 7 is a detailview similar to Fig. 2

4 illustrating that form of the invention "ments for setting the rail ends to prescribed wherein the head member of the gage is provided with a series of graduated gaging elespacing whenlaying the rails.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view, illustrating by a series of diagrams,'the use of the gage for settin the rail to a prescribed spacing.

Like re erence characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings. In carrying forward the invention, the structural form thereof may be greatly varied, and different materials employed, provided that the essential characteristics and functions of the device are preserved. For example, however, there are shown in the drawings certain forms of construction which may be utilized to advantage in the fulfillment of the objects of the invention.

Referring first to that form shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, it will be observed that the same comprises a gage body designated generally by the reference letter A having approximately the cross sectional form of a rail head and rail web and made, if desired, of steel wire or equivalent material having the capacity to offer the varidraw' gram of Fig. 5 which is a magni ed'illus- Therefore, different gages having different yield points may be emfloyed in carr ing out the invention.-. 11 other words, different gages maybe given different limits crushing which will be properly predetermined. However, the action of the improved safety gage may be explained in connection with that example shown in the p 8, wherein the body of the gage prefera 1y has a malleable characteristic and its functioning is shown by the gra' hic diatration of the range of rail 'se aration from of an inch to of an inch." he first'yiew of thls diagram shows a normal condition and the succeeding views illustrate the deable resistance to crushing force as conte1nplated by the present invention.

The gage body, as shown in the figures referred to, includes a shank member 1 consisting of the end portions of the wire, being arranged in substantial parallelism, forming a convenient handle as hereinafter explained and lying between the ends of the webs of the adjacent rails. The top portion of the gage body constitutes a head member having the outwardly and upwardly inclining side bearing arms 2 which have their bearing support on the heads of the splice bars S, and'connecting the said side bearing arms 2 is the crown or mid-section 3 of the device, which section 3 lies between adjacent rail heads and' extends transversely across the space between them.

As abov'e'pointed out, it is the purpose of the invention to provide a gage body havvelopment occurring from an increase in the compressive forces exerted against the'interposed gage ,reaching to a point where'these orces become abnormal, and the final view showin the gage body broken down or crushe to a negligible thickness, indicating unsafe track conditions. Y From the foregoing, it will be seen that a preferable construction is to have the gage made of a malleable body, that is malleable in the sense of being susceptible of malleation under abnormal conditions by the crushing force of .the rails due to expansion, track or traffic conditions, it having been already pointed out that it is intended that the gage shall be crushed to a negligible thickness, by malleation before there is any danger of springing or sun-kinking of the rails.

- of the gage to be varied to quitean extent to meet atmospheric or local conditions without affecting materially the primary pur ose of this invention.

T erefore, it is proposed, preferably, to provide the gage body with means givlng to the gage a graded resistance or a lurality of yieldpoints, the highest of whlch 1s the determining factor within the intent of the invention. Forinstance, that phase of the invention may be realized in providing the crown or mid-section 3 of the gage body with laterally displaced contact points or bends 4 which may be conveniently produced by wavin or crimping said crown or midsection 3. r as may be involved in a form of the invention such as shown in Fig. 5, the body of the gage may have the feature of v variability. or gradation of resistance inent-by reference to the diagram of Fig. 5.;

However in whatever way t at feature may be incorporated in a gage body, the result is the same, namely that of providing the gage body with what may be termed normal resistance-means havin ay1eld po1ntwh1ch is high enough to ena 1e it to resist compression strains imposed by the ad acent rail ends under normal track conditions; and also providing the gage body with what may be termed maximum or ultimate resistance means, the yield point of which is not high enough to enable it to keep the rails from crushing the spacing gage under dangerousl high stresses.

The carrying forward of the special objects noted may, as stated, be embodied in a variety of forms of construct1on and a modification that may be resorted to as to one of the details, is that shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, which consists in twlstmg the shank member of the gage body, thus making the structure more compact, as well as affording a convenient handle when the crown of the gage is formed, as-in Fig. 8, for use as a temperature shim onnew. rail laying.

An adaptation of the device for use as a temperature gage, for gaging the spacm of rails when laid, is shown in the specia form of gage illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8 of the drawings. It will be seen from the illustration of these figures, that the function referred to may very effectually be performed by constructing the head member of the gage body with an unsymmetrical series of steps, producing a. series of graduated gaging elements a, c, d and 6. These gaging elements divide the head member of the body into a number of different depths providing means, when inserted between rail ends, of accurately determining a number of spaces or gaps which may be left between the rail ends when the rail is laid according to' local atmospheric conditions.

This use of the invention is graphically shown in the series of diagrammatic outlines of Fig. 8 of the drawings. After the gage has been used in this manner, it is then placed between the" rail ends to perform the additional function as a safety gage in the manner hereinbefore fully described.

It should be pointed out, in connection with the use of the device as a temperature.

grovided for by the de-' and 8 of the drawings,

words, the act of inserting such a gage.

would operate automatically to space the rails, to one fixed distance when brought up against the ga e.

Other modi cations of the invention may be resorted to and various" changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be employed without departing from the spiritv or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

I claim: 1. A safety indicator for railwa having means for respectively. in icating safe and unsafe longitudinal stresses in .two

rails which abut againstsaid indicator.

2. A device of the class described consisting of a body adapted to be interposed be-' stresses will break down the gage and close up the gap.

5. A gage of theclass described adapted to lie between adjacent rail en'dsyand having a range of resistance to compressive forces up to a point beyond which said forces are to be regarded as dangerous.

6. A gage ofthe class described'adapted to lie between adjacent rail ends and having a range of safe resistance to compressive forces, within which a minimum gap between rail ends cannot be diminished.

7. A gaging medium adapted to be interposed between adjacent rail ends and consisting of a gage body having component parts which are of a rounded sectional conformation. V

8. A gaging medium adapted to be intertrack I posed between adjacent rall ends and consisting of a gage body having component parts all of which have the same ultimate and safe some tri of lower resistance to compression.

yield point to compression but ich parts have various degrees 9;,A device of the class described consistingifiof body adapted to be interposed between" rail-ends andhaving a graded resistance to compressive forces.

10. A device of the class described c0nsisting of a metallic body adapted to be interposed between rail ends and inherently having a plurality of yield points.

11. A rail spacing device having a plurality of yield points so graded as to afford safe resistance to compression up to an ultimate yield point at which the resistance breaks down before track stresses have reached their danger point.

12. A gage of the class described having a metallic body adapted to be placed between rail ends and susceptible of cumulative resistance to malleation up to a point where it indicates a dangerous intensity of longitudinal stresses in the rails.

13. A metallic gage of the class described comprising a malleable gage body adapted to be placed between rail ends and inherently having a raded resistance.

1%. A gage o? the class described consisting of a gage bod formed of wire.

15. A gage of t e class described consisting of a gage body formed of wire and including a shank member and a head member both of which have the same ultimate yield point to compression but one of which may also have a lesser yield point than the ultimate.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM P. THOMSON.

Witnesses:

C. A. DISBROW, E. K. KERSHNEB. 

